Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 20,862 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,862 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.13% of Assured Guaranty worth $5,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 535.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $79.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $58.27 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.72 and a 200-day moving average of $79.68.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.